Kiss Me On a Burning Barricade

Oscar Wilde. Queer, poet, dramatist, theorist, anarcho-socialist. Son of the famous poet and Irish nationalist Jane Wilde, and married to Constance Lloyd, a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn. Lived in many intersections of radical society, functioning as a sort of nexus for anarchist, anti-colonial, and esoteric thought. His essay, The Soul of Man Under Socialism, is a rather brilliant work.

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For more thoughts on privacy, security, and witchcraft, we recommend this essay.

Want context for events like the brutal assault on Black teenagers in Texas last week or any other horrific acts of racism lately? The 30 Day Real Black History series continues.

Glossary

Productivity

The measure of a worker’s ‘output’ over time against wages.

Capitalists wish to increase worker productivity in order to decrease the cost of labor–the most amount of work for the least amount of pay. This logic runs counter both to the needs of workers and also the natural logic of work.

Consider. If you’re in charge of providing a meal for 500 people, it’d be preferable to have as many people to help with this task that you can gather. The more people, the less work.

Capitalist logic, however, demands that the very least amount of people to cook that meal be hired, because each person involved demands pay for the job. Thus, in a restaurant, owners maintain only minimal amounts of staff, ‘cut’ staff when its slow, and constantly increase the work-burden of the few workers they hire. That increase is ‘productivity.’

Many governments issue ‘productivity’ figures to measure the state of the economy. Low productivity means there are ‘too many’ employed people (full employment is bad for Capitalism) and thus lower profits for owners. Often, lay-offs follow such figures.

When a boss gives you extra work, or when a position stays unfilled for prolonged periods of time, keep in mind that these are tactics to increase the amount you work, so those above you can hold on to more of the money you are making on their behalf.

Quote

“Borrowing Nietzsche’s definition, we are the children of Dionysus, sailing in a barrel and not recognising any authority.

We are a part of this force that has no final answers or absolute truths, for our mission is to question. There are architects of apollonian statics and there are (punk) singers of dynamics and transformation. One is not better than the other. But it is only together that we can ensure the world functions in the way Heraclitus defined it: “This world has been and will eternally be living on the rhythm of fire, inflaming according to the measure, and dying away according to the measure. This is the functioning of the eternal world breath.”

We are the rebels asking for the storm, and believing that truth is only to be found in an endless search. If the “World Spirit” touches you, do not expect that it will be painless.”

–Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, of the anti-authoritarian, anti-Capitalist band Pussy Riot, in a prison letter to Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek.

Thanks for reading, and for your thoughts. I agree there is a distinction between abstract idealogy & human behavior, usually articulated as theory vs. practice. The problem is, these are not two separate worlds, forever cleaved in half. One influences the other. The abstractions we carry in our minds usually regulate our behavior. If we focus on changing behavior without addressing the fundamental thought patterns that underlie it, we will forever be chasing small fires that keep arising. Overthrowing capitalism will require a transformation of human consciousness — the very essence of magic.

Well put. As I am certain that you have experienced, if magic is focused too broadly, its effects tend to dissipate. Targeting is really critical. As I’ve struggled with this problem in my own tradition (Christianity), I’ve come to realize that the predators hide behind the abstractions. It’s the old “wolves in sheep’s clothing” problem.

A piece of wisdom that I have found helpful went something like: “A man will change his beliefs before he’ll change his behavior.” If we focus on the abstractions that they have corrupted (rather than fighting to restore their original meaning), then when we’ve demolished the system, they’ll simply take the resources they’ve acquired and declare new allegiances.

I would have to agree that corrupted capitalism is a cesspool of psychopathy at this point. Maybe that makes it a good place to tune our radar (I have found that useful). But in the end, I think that tuning our radar (becoming sensitive to psychopathy wherever it resides) is going to be the key to rooting out the problems that concern us both.